Free Republic

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus wants to torpedo all the talk about a shrinking U.S. battle fleet. Republican presidential candidates are pushing a “narrative,” Mabus said, that President Barack Obama has weakened the military and, in particular, the Navy, at a time of growing demands on American power around the world. But in an interview with POLITICO, Mabus fired a salvo at critics he said don’t know what they’re talking about. “I have this funny thing about facts,” he laughed in his office on the Pentagon’s E-Ring, surrounded by paintings of classic warships. “I like to get facts into the equation.”...

Speaker Mop & Glo made headlines for her call to investigate opponents of the Ground Zero mosque, but there was something else about her remarks that should have raised your hackles: “There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded,” she said. “How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we’ve been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we...

I can’t believe I’m writing these words: Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III is going on trial – again. Twice, Hutchins’ conviction by a military court martial for unpremeditated murder in Iraq has been overturned due to factors precluding a fair trial. That means that twice, following Hutchins’ initial conviction in 2007, he has been released from the brig a free man. After his conviction was overturned the first time, there were eight months of freedom in 2010. Then, on the day his wife Reyna found out she was pregnant with their second child, Hutchins, a third-generation Marine, returned to prison....

An intensifying criminal investigation of an alleged contracting scheme involving a top-secret Navy project has resulted in the forced resignation of the service’s second-ranking civilian leader, according to officials and court documents. Robert C. Martinage, the acting undersecretary of the Navy, stepped down after his boss, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, asked for his resignation “following a loss of confidence in [his] abilities to effectively perform his duties,” according to a statement the Navy released Wednesday. Navy officials said Martinage was pressured to quit after investigators looking into his role in the top-secret program discovered that he was having an affair....

The Navy will take a more aggressive approach to curbing alcohol and drug abuse and continue moving toward a smoke-free force under initiatives announced this afternoon by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. In response to concerns about alcohol abuse, particularly among younger sailors and Marines, the department this year will install Breathalyzers on every ship so that crew members coming aboard to work will be tested. Crew members already on board will be randomly tested. If a sailor is found to be intoxicated, he or she will be subject to counseling and treatment but not formal reprimand or punishment. The machines...

The USS Medgar Evers? The USS John Murtha? The USS Cesar Chavez? Our Navy Secretary, Ray Mabus, has this diversity thing down cold. Each one of those ships was in a class that previous names of their sister ships had nothing to do with civil rights, or corrupt Democratic politicians. Ships are usually named after states, cities, even famous explorers and war heroes. But Mabus has injected partisanship into this tradition, naming another ship for Democrat Gabriel Giffords, who has shown courage in her recovery from an assassination attempt but had expressed little interest in the military during her career...

The Senate wants the Navy to explain how it selects names for new ships in the wake of controversy over the naming of a ship in memory of labor leader Cesar Chavez. A little-noticed provision of a defense bill that passed the Senate last week would direct the Navy to submit a report to Congress on its naming of vessels. The provision was sought by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who told reporters in a conference call last week that in light of recent controversies over ship namings, the Navy should seek "more input and think more carefully about who we’re...

Vice President Biden is slated to deliver the keynote address at a Las Vegas energy summit hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) later this month. The fourth annual National Clean Energy Summit will also feature remarks from Center for American Progress President John Podesta, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), among others. “The Obama administration has proven time and again it understands the importance of building a competitive 21st-century economy through clean energy investments and policies that are focused on putting people back to work, reducing costs for consumers and...

Sins of the Generals: Indefinite Delay From the North County Times: “Wuterich Trial Postponed Indefinitely” by Mark Walker http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_4d980698-b22a-5373-b615-d0f1abe38673.html Not much of an article there Mr. Walker. For example, there is no explanation of the descriptor “Indefinitely”. Where is the rest of the story? …as they say.

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) disagrees with the Navy's decision to name a cargo ship under construction in San Diego for California farm labor leader Cesar Chavez. The decision, announced Tuesday, "appear[s] to be more about making a political statement than upholding the Navy's history and tradition," Hunter said in press release....

He said Republicans had driven the economy into a ditch and then stood by and criticized while Democrats pulled it out. Now that progress has been made, he said, "we can't have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back."... Obama can "take his endorsement and shove it," declared Democrat Frank Caprio, battling Republican-turned-independent Lincoln Chafee in a gubernatorial race rated tight in the polls. Chafee endorsed Obama during the 2008 campaign for the White House.

The restoration plan, written by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, was submitted to the president today…the Mabus report recommends that Congress authorize a Gulf Coast Recovery Council. The recovery council would include representatives from the states and federally recognized gulf tribes. A key recommendation in the report is that Congress dedicates a significant amount of any civil penalties obtained from parties responsible for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill into a Gulf Coast Recovery Fund… The president has decided to follow this recommendation, and congressional action is critical to the overall effort… The president will not let the recovery process wait until...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's point man charting a new future for the oil-poisoned Gulf Coast will do the job part-time. Some environmentalists said the job demands someone's full attention. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who oversees 900,000 Navy and Marine personnel, is inheriting an amorphous second job as the Obama administration's leader of long-term environmental and economic planning. His task is no less than rebuilding a region still suffering after Hurricane Katrina and beset by decades of environmental problems. Mabus won't resign from his Navy job. When President George W. Bush picked Donald Powell to lead the recovery after Hurricane...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's selection of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a former Mississippi governor, as his go-to person in charge of developing a long-term Gulf Coast restoration plan won widespread praise Wednesday. While details are sketchy, the selection of Mabus, which Obama announced Tuesday night in an Oval Office speech to the nation, is meant to quell rising unease, especially on the Gulf Coast, about the government's response to the eight-week-old oil spill. Describing Mabus as a "son of the Gulf," Obama said, "the plan will be designed by states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists, and other Gulf...

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- The Navy is naming its next amphibious ship after the late western Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus made the announcement Friday at the Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. Murtha's family and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were in attendance.

The late Rep. John Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, has achieved his highest undeserved honor. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has decided to name the Navy's newest San Antonio Class amphibious transport-dock LPD 26 the USS John P. Murtha. This is a slap in the face to every service member who bridled when Murtha publicly accused Marines in Iraq of intentionally killing women and children in cold blood. Murtha made his views known after details emerged about a firefight in Haditha in November 2005 in which 24 Iraqis were killed. Murtha accused the Marines of engaging in premeditated murder and agreed with MSNBC's...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Wednesday took to the Fox News Channel, derided by his White House as a wing of the Republican Party, to sell his embattled health care overhaul in an interview punctuated with interruptions from the host and chiding from the guest. Obama sat down with "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier in the executive mansion's Blue Room to talk about a health care plan that is inching toward final passage. Several times Obama chided Baier for breaking into his lengthy answers with follow-up questions. "Bret, you've got to let me finish my answers," Obama told Baier,...

Dec 7 Navy SEALs Courts-Martial PROTEST - Norfolk Virginia SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! Type: Causes - Protest Network: Global Date: Monday, December 7, 2009 Time: 8:00am - 6:00pm Location: Naval Station Norfolk City/Town: Norfolk, VA Description As most of you already know, some of our military’s most elite, the Navy SEALs are under fire from the US Government for none other than bloodying the lip of one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq, the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. Matthew McCabe, Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe & Petty Officer...

President Obama was put to the test in his first major speech as "healer-in-chief" after the Fort Hood tragedy. While eulogizing Maj. Nidal Hasan's victims, Obama had to soothe bereft families, navigate the thorny issues of Islam and terrorism, and reaffirm the American spirit, all without sounding trite. For some, he also needed to erase the memory of his first, much-criticized public remarks on the massacre. (Watch Obama's speech at Fort Hood.) While some commentators are calling the eulogy his "best speech ever," others don't agree.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said on Thursday that women would soon serve on submarines reversing a long time ban by the Navy. The Department of Defense : Appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Mabus signaled that the Navy is moving closer to allowing coed personnel on submarines.